


Fragment

by xnemones_graveyard



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Post-Canon, Reincarnation, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:54:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29120787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xnemones_graveyard/pseuds/xnemones_graveyard
Summary: Bill Cipher takes another chance in the body of a boy he renames Liber Cliph. When he falls in love with Dipper Pines, things get a little complicated.
Relationships: Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines
Kudos: 18





	Fragment

Ever since his summer in Gravity Falls, Oregon, nothing has really surprised Dipper. He and his sister fought off a colony of gnomes, zombies, and the apocalypse. The two of them have kept in contact with their friends from that small, strange town. When they wrote their summer essays in school, none of their teachers believed a word of it. Their parents as well were reluctant to send them back to Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford. Which is why they never got to go back to Gravity Falls until the summer after their senior year.

Dipper parks his van in front of the mystery shack and looks over at his sister, his grin mirrored in her reflection. They bump fists and hop out, grabbing their things from the trunk as their great-uncles, Wendy, and Soos come out of the shack to greet them. 

“Man, you two have really grown up!” Wendy comments, switching Dipper’s old pine tree baseball cap for the woodsman hat she lent him four years ago.

He laughs and agrees. Grunkle Ford pats him on the shoulder, smiling at him.

“It’s good to see you, Dipper.”

“You too,” Dipper replies.

“So, what have my favorite troublemakers been up to lately?” Grunkle Stan asks, throwing his arms around their shoulders.

“Oh, you know, breaking hearts, getting into college, dying under the stress of exams,” Mabel replies casually.

Dipper chuckles and nods his agreement.

“So, heard you got into Harvard,” Wendy says.

“Yeah,” he responds.

“Cool. You know what you want to major in, yet?” she asks.

“I’m thinking I’ll get a science major, but I’m not sure what branch to go into just yet,” he admits with a half-shrug.

She grins at him and says, “Sweet. You gotta tell me how it goes, alright?”

“Yeah,” Dipper replies. “Definitely.”

“Anything else to share with us?” Grunkle Ford asks.

“Perhaps a girl, or a guy,” Grunkle Stan chimes in.

Mabel grins evilly.

“Oh, Dipper’s actually pretty popular at our school,” she says. “What, did you just break up with your sixth partner last month?”

“Oh my god, Mabel, come on!” Dipper exclaims, covering his eyes with one hand as his cheeks and the tips of his ears turn pink.

Wendy elbows him in the side, grinning like Mabel.

“I definitely have to hear about this,” she says.

Dipper groans and pulls away, claiming he has to go put his stuff away. Mabel laughs and jogs after him. They go up to the attic and put their bags down, unpacking a little. Dipper lays the journals out on his shelf carefully, his fingers trailing across the bindings. Mabel sighs contentedly, lying on her back on her bed after putting up her last poster.

“It’s good to be back,” she comments, smiling across the room at her brother.

He smiles back and nods, looking out the window fondly.

“Yeah. It really is,” he agrees.

“Kids! Come down here for dinner while it’s still hot!” Grunkle Stan’s voice cuts in from downstairs.

“Coming!” Mabel replies, jumping off her bed and flashing her brother a grin before she tells him, “Last one down is a rotten egg!” and dashes downstairs.

“Hey, no fair, you got a head start!” he calls after her, laughter in his tone.

~+~+~+~

Dipper forgot just how much fun it is being in Gravity Falls. Mabel and him decide sneak out with Wendy and some of her friends one night to watch a meteor shower.

“Hey Dipper,” Wendy calls, leaning on her car in front of the Mystery Shack. “And Mabel. You two ready to go?”

“Yep,” Dipper replies, binoculars weighing on his neck heavily.

He climbs into the passenger seat and Mabel slips into the back. On the way to the hill they agreed to meet at, the three of them talk and laugh, making small talk. Dipper hardly notices every flirtatious smile Wendy throws his way. Finally, they get to the hill and step out, walking towards Robbie’s van. He waves at them, still all dark-eyeliner and baggy black clothes.

“Yo, Dips!” Tambry calls, an arm around a girl’s shoulders.

“How’s it going?” one of Wendy’s other friends, Lee, asks.

“Oh, we’re great,” Dipper replies cheerfully.

He scans the crowd, recognizing most of the faces except the girl under Tambry’s arm and a blonde boy in the back with a leather jacket. That guy catches Dipper’s eye. He startles when Dipper makes eye contact with him, then glances away quickly, almost nervously. His tongue darts out to moisten his lips and Dipper’s eyes are drawn to the motion. He frowns slightly and is about to ask the guy’s name when Mabel jumps on him from behind, pointing up at the sky and shouting that the meteors have started.

All of them end up staring at the sky, some of the older kids drinking beer from a cooler Robbie brought. Dipper, Mabel, and the mysterious boy don’t have any. Finally, as the meteors start to peter out and a few people start leaving, Dipper gets a chance to talk to the boy.

“Hey,” he calls, catching him by his shoulder and forcing the stranger to turn towards him slightly.

The boy’s eyes widen slightly before he looks down at his feet.

“Hi,” the guy replies, his voice strangely familiar and simultaneously completely normal.

“Uh…”

Dipper is dumbstruck. Up close, he can see that this guy has long eyelashes, pale freckles dotting his face. His jaw is strangely angular, his hair swooping over one eye, shaved on one side and in the back. His eyes are a crystal clear blue, and Dipper withdraws his hand from the guy’s shoulder like it burned him somehow.

“What’s your name?” he asks.

The guy glances up to meet his eyes. Then he smiles slightly and tilts his head.

“Call me Liber,” the boy responds.

“Liber,” Dipper repeats breathlessly.

“Come on, brother, we’ve got to get back to the mystery shack!” Mabel calls from Wendy’s car. “Get your skinny twink butt in this car!”

Dipper feels his face burn and turns away, hopeful the moonlight isn’t bright enough for Liber to tell. The chuckle that he hears rumble out of Liber just deepens Dipper’s blush.

“Coming!” he calls back. He looks back at Liber, apologetic, and adds, “Sorry. I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.”

Dipper flashes a slightly nervous smile before he turns and jogs back to Wendy’s car.

“See you around, pine tree,” Liber says to himself, grinning after the boy.

~+~+~+~

Dipper can’t stop thinking about Liber. When he turns over one too many times for his sister to stand, she groans exasperatedly and chucks her pillow at him.

“Oh my god, just tell me how gay you are for him already,” she says.

“Hey!” Dipper replies defensively, throwing her pillow back. “He’s cute.”

She rolls her eyes.

“Dipper, come on, just a few weeks ago you were muttering to yourself about whether or not it was the right decision to break up with that guy, Jack or John or whatever,” she reminds him.

“Jake, and this guy is different than anyone I’ve ever met, I can tell,” Dipper replies.

“What’s his name?” she asks.

“Liber.”

“Liber? As in the greek god of fertility and freedom?” she asks flatly.

“Yes?”

She sighs, shaking her head at the ceiling.

“Oh, my poor, poor, bisexual brother. If only you were not cursed with terrible judgment in men,” she murmurs sadly, teasing.

“Only two of the people I’ve dated ended up being bad,” Dipper retorts.

“Two out of six.”

“So?!”

“That’s one third, Dipper. One third of the people you’ve been with have cheated on you,” she tells him.

He sighs and sits up, looking at where he knows she is.

“Look, can’t you just let me try to go after this guy?” he asks.

“Hey, I’m not saying you can’t ask him out or anything, I’m just telling you to be careful. I mean, seriously. He’s probably an older guy who goes through boyfriends by the dozen. Don’t come crying to me when he breaks your heart. Or do, but don’t expect too much sympathy.”

Dipper groans in frustration and lies back down with a thump.

“If he ends up being a total douchebag, you have the complete and total right to say, ‘I told you so,’” Dipper tells her.

She smiles and replies, “That’s all I need.”

~+~+~+~

The next time Dipper runs into Liber is on a walk in the forest. He is just walking along peacefully, enjoying the scent of the flowers as he walks along the path, when he hears quiet singing. He follows the sound and peeks around a tree, a quiet gasp escaping him.

There is Liber, a pair of golden headphones over his ears, singing along softly while feeding a jackalope some carrots.

The jackalope looks up at Dipper and scampers off. Liber frowns slightly until he looks up and sees Dipper half-hidden behind a tree. Liber stands up and grins, taking off his headphones.

“Hey there,” Liber greets.

Dipper breathes a response, distracted by the young man in front of him. Liber’s black leather jacket fits him well. He has it unzipped, a slim-fitting t-shirt underneath that shows off the v-shape of his torso. His jeans are a little dirty, but otherwise well-kept, with no tears.

Dipper snaps his eyes back up when Liber snorts, covering his mouth with one hand, his uncovered eye glittering.

“You never told me your name last night,” Liber comments, lowing his hand.

“Oh. Right, sorry. I’m, ah, Dipper. Dipper Pines.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dipper,” Liber replies, his voice as smooth as honey. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

Dipper frowns slightly and steps out from behind the tree fully.

“Really? From whom?” he asks.

Liber’s smile widens into a smirk.

“Why, everyone of course. You Pines are quite famous in Gravity Falls, after all,” he responds, gesturing with his arms out to the sides. “I’ve been longing to meet you in person.”

“Oh,” Dipper replies, mentally kicking himself for the pitch his small exclamation comes out at.

Liber’s eyes glimmer mischievously again.

“What do you say we… have lunch sometime? Get to know each other a little better, eh?” Liber suggests.

“Uh, yeah, definitely,” Dipper tells him, nodding dumbly.

Liber takes a few steps towards him, still smiling.

“Wonderful. The diner at noon, tomorrow?” Liber asks.

“Sure.”

“Excellent. See you there, pine tree!” Liber replies, disappearing down the path with a wave over his shoulder.

Dipper startles at the nickname, memories of a certain megalomaniacal geometric demon flashing through his mind, but Liber is gone before Dipper calls after him.


End file.
